this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
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In light of recent controversy and its handling, the twice-a-year FediForum unconference for April 1st and 2nd has been canceled by its organizer.

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[–] [email protected] 53 points 3 days ago (1 children)

none of these transphobic losers who use autism to attack trans people even gives a flip about autistic people

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago

none of these transphobic losers who use autism to attack trans people even gives a flip about people

Ftfy

[–] [email protected] 56 points 3 days ago

Stop confusing young autistic vulnerable people.

— Date Unknown

I'm old and autistic and not confused by the fact trans women are women. Hope that helps.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I don't understand why people don't keep such comments to their anonymous, unofficial accounts. You can hold such views in private and still treat people with respect, but saying these things officially changes everything. The co-organiser is in a space where she should know better. She then even doubled down

When asked whether she still held her more problematic views in a follow-up comment, Young responded ambiguously with “I fully stand by the statement you are commenting on.”

In for a penny, in for a pound, eh?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I agree but also very unlikely it would make a difference if they were only sharing from their personal account.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Would you if it's something you care about and want to be vocal about? I'd rather know that she's full of shit and now out of the whole thing than supporting someone who spews against trans people on a secret identity.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Would you if it's something you care about

Did you forget a word?

I'm having trouble with the rest of your post too. Autocorrect must've struck or something.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Sorry, English is not my first language, bit I thought the post is somewhat clear?

I didn't forget a word, maybe a comma - in the given context, the meaning is "Would you keep your opinion for yourself if it's something you care about?" as the post I replied to suggested exactly that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

No worries, as a European, English isn't my first language either :P

And as a response: if my job depended on being on the "right side of things" I wouldn't make such controversial statements. Not only is it dumb in the moment, but also for the future. People are very polarised and even if she had changed her mind by now, there'd still be outrage "omg, look at what she said years ago! I don't trust that she changed!". Of course she supposedly doubled down, which is even dumber IMO, but you get the point.

I use this anonymous account because what the opinions I express here will probably evolve and I don't want any future employer putting me into a box due to a comment made in jest, rage, or whatever. Revealing your identity online for anything other than business is just asking for trouble.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I don't think Fedi forum was her job, but maybe it is?

I strongly disagree with it generally being dumb to (unanonymously) raise your voice on a topic that might cause you problems in the future. It's a consideration of priorities and going "this is my name and I stand up for xy" (maybe by a coworker even) is usually more impactful than some anon accounts or persona. Of course it might impact your career or whatever, but for some people it's worth the potential consequences.

I too use (semi) anonymous accounts for different things, but I don't go "neutral" at work or anywhere really. Most political organizations won't work with only anons (Anonymous is an exception). Saying using your real name for "controversial" politics stuff is dumb? Hard no.

Also, which topics are controversial and which aren't is always subject to change. Maybe she lives somewhere where transphobic positions will help her? She's rightfully gone from this position and I wish transphobia would be a unacceptable everywhere but it isn't and she might find other people/orgs/position where it's a benefit even.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 hours ago

I guess we disagree, but I'm not going to stop people from voicing their opinions and linking them to their official identities.

The problem with the internet is that it doesn't always forget. That's exactly why I do my best to keep my accounts separate. However, yes, semantic analysis could demask me in the future, who knows. At least it'll give me the opportunity to say "that's not my account". If something is officially linked to my account, my "genius" thoughts will be bound to me and could easily be found by friends, foes, employers, whatever.

What I'm getting at is: privacy is important. Giving it up should be carefully considered, not simply done by default or thoughtlessly or "because everyone does it".

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

In pshych 101 they teach that sex and gender are two different things.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's great. Since when and does everybody take psych 101?

And just to give a wider perspective (regardless of her origins), not every language makes the distinction and some up until recently did not. Look at the translations on (wiktionary). Many of them are transliterations of the English word. Which is not a surprise since the concept of gender is quite recent (1950-1960s) and was most likely very US-centric.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

We didn't make a distinction in english until about ten? years ago. Most people used the terms interchangeably. That's part of why people got so pissed off about the whole thing. Suddenly they were being screamed at by a militant tumbler user for using the wrong word when they were using it that way their whole life.

[–] Ciralinde 20 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I'm a bit confused about this, isn't the whole lgbtq movement advocating for the distinction between terms "sex" and "gender" exactly the same way as those quotes do? Or do lgbtq people advocate for equating "sex" to "gender"? Honestly, this whole thing is always a huge mindfuck to try to comprehend.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago

Posting from another thread:

Her comments cover everything from “trans women are mostly autistic boys who have been gaslit” to “there are only two sexes” to “trans people are unfit to play in their gender’s sport.” However, there are far worse comments floating around out there that talk about genital mutilation and all kinds of other heinous shit.

It wasn't just "I have a different opinion, we can agree to disagree", it was full-fledged unhinged stuff that all followed the TERF playbook.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I was a bit confused too, but OPs answer to your comment clarified it quite well.

And after thinking a bit on it, and from my very basic knowledge of lgbt movment, here's what i think they advocate for (pls correct me if i say bs) : sex and gender are indeed different, they aee not necessarily connected and both are spectrums rather than binary options. This means you could have a lot of options between what sex you are (male/female/intersex), what gender you are (a lot of options) and what gender you were assigned at birth (generally either male or female). Some trans people need their "physical" sex identity to match their gender, other don't.

The problem in this case seems to me that she advocates for a strict binary conception of sex identity and that she pushed for it to be more important than gender in social situations such as sport. Part of the confusion also comes from the fact that she acknowledges parts of what the lgbt movment fights for but she fights against the rest, which happens frequently in TERF rethorics afaik

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Yup pretty much. It's... complicated if you really dive into it. I'm saying this as a trans person - there are biological differences between people. In literally everyone, though - it's not just a sex thing. No two males, females, intersex, or otherwise are alike biologically. Everyone's biological stats are different. Even twins are different.

These categories exist in science to easily communicate basic ideas based on medical observations. But once you get to the nitty-gritty of a person's personal medical history it's really hard to categorize certain things. You can have "true" females with more male hormones than "true" males and vice-versa. You can be born without any sex organs and still develop into an adult.

Bodies are weird. Medical science is very complicated and interesting. We really don't know what we're doing still or how a lot of our biology operates. Can you attribute someone's sports prowess to their hormones? Maybe? I don't know. I don't think it matters in the grand scheme of things. I think someone's determination to do something is a bigger indicator of how well they'll do in the end.

Nothing's certain in science. Disproving something is easy. Proving things is a lot harder lol.